Why do I feel Dizzy?

Dizziness is commonly experienced in the adult population, and the prevalence increases with age. Patients often describe balance problems in terms of vertigo, dizziness, lightheadedness, and motion sickness.

WHAT CAUSES DIZZINESS?

Dizziness is commonly experienced in the adult population, and the prevalence increases with age. Patients often describe balance problems in terms of vertigo, dizziness, light-headedness, and motion sickness. One person may describe a balance problem using one or more of these terms, another person may use a different combination of these terms to describe the very same condition. Generally dizziness is caused by a disruption of the systems that maintains our balance.

Our balance and the way we orientated ourselves in space is primarily measured by three sensory systems:

The visual system (our eyes ‘looking’ and therefore telling us where we are)

The vestibular system of the inner ear (this apparatus tells us the motions of our head and where we are in relation to gravity without having to ‘look’)

The general sensory system in our joints, muscles and skin, that provides us information regarding motion, pressure, and position (proprioception).

These three systems continuously feed information to the brainstem and brain about our position in space relative to gravity. The brain, in turn, process and matches these data and also uses the information to make adjustments to our head, body, joints, and eyes. When all three sensory systems and the brain are properly functioning, they maintain a healthy balance system. When the balance system is not functioning correctly, either the brain is unable to process the information or there is a disorder in the three sensory systems, it results in a disruption of balance and therefore causes dizziness symptoms.

One person may describe a balance problem using one or more of these terms, another person may use a different combination of these terms to describe the very same condition. Generally dizziness is caused by a disruption of the systems that maintains our balance.